JustJoey is a relatively new name for an artist who has been around since the early 2010s, formerly releasing music under the name Lucid Optics and as part of groups like Lucid Logic and Modern Language. Last June, he released his first project under his new moniker, JustJoey, World is Home. Now he’s come back with a more ambitious full-length album, Sink or Swim. There have always been a couple of things that caught my ear since the first time I heard JustJoey, and they are all present on Sink or Swim.

Strange Famous has given us some big personalities over the years, whether it be it’s founder, Sage Francis, or a roster that includes B. Dolan, Dope Knife, Wheelchair Sports Camp, or 2Mex, just to name a few. What you might not think of when you think of Strange Famous is relatively unknown producers making some really chill ambient downtempo music. That is, until know, as they present a producer from Baltimore named ALXNDRBRWN, who gives us the simply titled The Alex Brown Project.

Kadesh Flow is a Kansas City artist that has been putting out music for years, but has really been hitting his stride since releasing his Room Service EP in 2018. Since that time, we’ve gotten a run of EPs and singles, including his most recent Bone Bars & Pixel Flips just this last March. Now we get another EP, I Hold Onto Heat For Too Long. It’s nice when a title is straightforward the way this one is.

The Austin hip hop scene grew by leaps and bounds over the last decade, with a lot of different artists and styles coming to the forefront. One especially interesting group to emerge was Hermit Kingdom, who came with some wild and abstract beats and rhymes. The man responsible for a lot of those beats was Flobama, who has also been working as a solo artist and producing for other acts such as Ben Buck and Big Mic as well over the years.

Small Professor is a producer from Philly who has been releasing music for over a decade. He’s collaborated with everyone from Curly Castro to Guilty Simpson, and he’s been part of groups like Them That Do. Over the years, he’s also been releasing quality instrumental projects at a steady pace, most notably his different “Jawn” collections, with his latest collection, Can’t Trap My Mind, coming out just last month. He’s already back with more, though, with overwhelmed by my telepathy.

Flevans is a producer/deejay/multi-instrumentalist from Brighton that has been releasing music since the early ‘00s, when he first got signed to Tru Thoughts. More recently, he has joined up with Jalapeno Records, including last year’s Part Time Millionaire. Never one to rest on his laurels, he comes right back with another ambitious album, Accumulate. First things first – This album is funky. For Accumulate, Flevans is throwing down the biggest, baddest dance party of 2020, and all of his friends are invited.

BADWOLFF is the Chicago duo of emcees Amanu and Casagrown. Together, they’ve been putting out music since the early 2010s. Their last release was an EP in 2017 called HONGRY WOLFF. Now they have come back with a new album, West of Western. For their projects, BADWOLFF typically like to work with one producer per project. On previous efforts, they’ve worked with the likes of Hongry Bogart and Azarias. For the latest round, they’ve teamed up with a producer by the name of Solomon Grunge.

Elder Orange is a producer/multi-instrumentalist from Vermont who emerged as a solo artist in 2018, with the release of their full-length album, All My Friends Believe in Ghosts. After releasing a couple of singles in 2019, he now returns with a new EP, Stella. Inspired by his favorite pawn shop guitar, Stella is a pretty straightforward release of three instrumental hip hop tracks. Or at least that what it seems like on paper.

Myka 9 is of course the legendary Los Angeles emcee who has been a part of such groups as Freestyle Fellowship and Haiku D’etat alongside a long and storied solo career. A little over a year ago, he teamed up with a producer from Minneapolis named Adriatic to release an album called In Motion. Now they’ve returned with a new EP, Constellations. EP might be a little bit of a misnomer, since Constellations is actually one new song and four remixes, but whatever you want to call it, it’s still good.

Homage CVG is a producer from Cincinnati and part of the Fort Ancient crew alongside Phonophage, Waldo From Cincinnati, Dren AD, and Samuel Steezmore. We last heard from him about a year ago, when he dropped the album Unfortunately. Now he comes back with a different type of project, an EP called Mr. Biv. As you might have guessed from the title of this project, Mr. Biv is an EP inspired by the rainbow.